Vladimír Hirsch

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Vladimír Hirsch
Vladimír Hirsch

Vladimír Hirsch (born July 3, 1954 in Benešov, former Czechoslovakia, today Czech Republic) is a composer of new forms of contemporary classical music. He is founder of original and extraordinal ways in composition style and sound characteristics (typical are new sonic characteristics of classical instruments), called by him “integrated music”. The work of Vladimir Hirsch represent not only solo projects (symphonies, suites, concertos, etc.), but even his activities in several musical formations. He is founder and leader of ensembles of progressive sympho-industrial and dark ambient music Skrol and Aghiatrias and member of Czech-American project Luminar Ax.

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[edit] Biography

Vladimír Hirsch has been composing since 1972, when, as pianist and organ player, he started to compose small romantic and classicist compositions for these instruments. Soon, though, he abandons these compositions for a longer period and takes up experimental rock and jazz music up to 1986. He was active in several formations, but he did not manage to get general recognition – whether because of the frequent break-ups of the formations or through his uncompromising stance towards the reckoning of the official ”cultural” structures of the then communist regime. In 1987 he decided to focus on classical musical form as well, nevertheless with an attempt to enhance the action potential by modern means of expression and by searching for specific processes. He attempts to resume the tradition of 20th century Czech music and draws inspiration from first Leoš Janáček, later also Miloslav Kabeláč, but eventually attains his own clear-cut position both in tone creative principles as in composition style and opinion on orchestration and the role of not quite musical components in it. Vladimír Hirsch's music is a kind of extrapolation of the combination of contemporary classical music, (where was initially also inspired by Giacinto Scelsi or György Ligeti) on the one side and dark ambient, industrial and noise components on the other side, which, through mutual infiltration by basic theses and antitheses, brought to life as a fully homogenous structure. Compositions are based on grasping both ways in a manner, which would allow them to partake of each other’s principal formal attributes, both on the basis of violent confrontation and of mutual empathy, which should lead to a unification of seemingly irreconcilable worlds. This happens with the help of musical symbolism of their transsubstantiation into a single, indivisible essence, which act represents the metaphorical and philosopical principle of Hirsch's “integrated” musical form.


[edit] Most important opuses

The author’s opus up to now is represented by (with the exception of works of musical formations), 4 symphonies, 6 orchestral suites, 3 concerto opuses, 6 experimental projects, scenic music and around 20 organ compositions and 2 piano cycles.

The first of the symphonies (Symphony No. 1 in E, op.20; 1988-89), composed for two synthesizers, is a four-movement composition, which seems to try to show the number of ways the composer can develop a theme. The basic themes are handled here with an attempt to exhaust various alternatives of harmony, the composition structure is more subject to experiment then the sound itself. It is an introspective project, of a very intense, in parts painful dwelling in the atmosphere of the work, trying to implicate the conflict of the inner world as seen through feelings and rational thought.

The second symphony (Symphony No. 2 ”Defensa”, op. 47, 1996-7) is intended for the so-called ”integrated orchestra” (as is the majority of the author’s works), using both authentic and synthetic instrumentation from the classical symphony orchestra, enhanced by industrial sounds which add colour to the compositions. Developed here are also some of the author’s leading motifs, that have not yet been fully exploited in the past. It is an allegory, where the virtual physical collision of two antagonistic worlds represents a similar kind of interference occurring on the level of elementary ethical values inside an individual. It is a kind of autobiographic apology of a failure in a similar kind of fight.

Vladimír Hirsch: "Concert industriel pour orgue" (album)
Vladimír Hirsch: "Concert industriel pour orgue" (album)

Concert industriel pour orgue, op.43, 1998 is initially an extensive composition in quasi-oratorial form, in final version abbreviated and restructuralised. Classical form is here only in contours. Opus is characterised by thematic spurts, erupting in desultory pulses and, exhausted, dying away in a mass of industrial sounds, without consequent ending of idea. The solo role of the organ (played by author) is surprisingly not dominant and its parts are often taken over by other instruments.

Symphony No.3, op. 52, 1998-1999, subtitled "Brands Of Tyranny" and ”Sinfonia integra per orchestra, organo e percussione”, is a kind of recapitulation of the author’s creative period between 1987-98. It is a highly uncompromising, even aggressive project, thematically concerned with the crisis of values of today’s world. It gives us a pitiless image of its chaos, paradoxically serving itself as an excuse for the soulless stereotypes of life, a cheap apology of the absence of blame for it. The author does not avoid a certain level of cruelty here, yet it fully corresponds to the necessary level of intensity that the cry of warning be heard in a strong emotionally hypo-acoustic (hard of hearing) environment. Even through its univocally signalised scepticism the composition is filled with the effort to undermine the bonds of stereotypes on the one hand and on the other to bind chaos, as a yearning for the spiritual purification of society. The pitiless view is documented by a highly martial character of the individual, mostly short meter movements. Symphony No. 3 is formally once again a relatively classical unit, but conceived already fully in the spirit of the author’s philosophy of the so-called integrated music. It is an opus, at the end of which we feel utmost exhaustion, but also faith in the giving up of oneself to an idea, notwithstanding the futility, by which it is surrounded. The final movement, which brings us back, in the manner of Sisyphus, to the very beginning of the process, but on a different level, is proof of this.

Sense Geeometry, op. 54, is conceptual album of compositions, based on author's fictive, geometric symbolism of certain mechanisms of the human psyche. It is an attempt to detect or prove the existence of a certain order in illusory chaos. The author calls this musical form of mathematical theory “fractal musical geometry”, as has already been mentioned. To this purpose he uses signals of intervals, rhythm, structure and instrumentation logic. Sound is an important component, creating a simply structured, yet emotionally tense atmosphere, where the lightly industrialised or noise instrumentation of the compositions plays the role of the chaotic and likewise irritating element, the hypnotic rhythm than the role of order’s go-between, pointing attention’s direction to another levels of seeing things.

Vladimír Hirsch: "Symphony No.4" (album)
Vladimír Hirsch:
"Symphony No.4" (album)

Symphony No.4 ”Descent From The Cross”, op.67, 2001-2002, is a thematic opus, inspired originally by Dostoevski’s interpretation of Hans Holbein’s painting of same name. It is a polemic with his questioning of the Christian faith in Christ’s resurrection, since the level of cogency in portraying a truly dead body is strikingly exposed in the works of the German artist. Also because of this the symphony may be understood as a sort of filling of the gap between Christ’s death and laying into the grave, i.e. the process, which is not given much space in the bible. The author is trying to create a deeply immersed, painful perception here, dominated by uncertainty and doubt, but through the belief in spiritual strength inclined to hope and strife for the fulfilling of the faith’s thesis. In expressive terms the work combines expressive means ranging from symphonic to noise, in a totality which up to now represents the author’s concept of the so-called integrated musical form the best.

[edit] Selection of Works and Recordings

Vladimír Hirsch: "Sense Geometry" (album)
Vladimír Hirsch:
"Sense Geometry" (album)
  • Synthetics - Themes, op.17, experimental project, DMA (CD), 1987
  • Symphony no.1 in E, Op.20; symphony for synthesizers. 1988-1989. DMA (CD)
  • Organ Pieces; organ composition complet, DMA (MC) 1990
  • 7 Parts Of Desolation, op.29; piano cycle, 1986-1991, DMA (MC)
  • Intermezza, op.37; piano compositions, 1995
  • Simplicity Of Heresy, op.37; suite for integrated ensemble, 1996, CatchArrow Recordings (MC)
  • Musik für die Metamorphose, op.45; scenic music for stage addaptation of Franz Kafka story „The Metamorphosis“, 1997.
  • Symphony no.2 „Defensa“, op.47; symphony for integrated orchestra, 1997, released 2006 by Ars Benevola Mater
  • Concert industriel pour orgue, op.49; concerto for organ, percussions and integrated ensemble, 1997. organ: Vladimír Hirsch. Released 2006 by Ars Benevola Mater
  • Casual Crime, op.51; new arrangemnts of jazz compositions 1977-1979, rev. 1998. CatchArrow Recordings (CD)
  • Symphony no.3 „Brands Of Tyranny, op.52; symphony for integrated orchestra, organ, percussions and mezzosoprano, 1999. organ: Vladimír Hirsch, mezzosoprano: Martina Sanollová. Released 2006 by Ars Benevola Mater.
  • Divertimento nos. 1 and 2, Hymnus no. 2; orchestral compositions, 1997-1999. CatchArrow Recordings (MC)
  • Sense Geometry, op.54; experimental thematic opus, 1998-1999, revised 2004; released 2006 by Ars Benevola Mater.
  • Dances & Marches, op.57; suite for organ, piano and orchestra, 1999, CatchArrow Recordings (MC)
  • Exorcisms, op.61; suite for integrated ensemble, 1999-2000, rev. 2005; Ars Benevola Mater.
  • Symfonie č.4, “Snímání z kříže” (Descent From The Cross), op.67; symphony for integrated orchestra, soloists and choir; 2001, rev. 2006, Ars Benevola Mater.
  • De regionibus liminis, op.68, experimental work; 2003, CatchArrow Recordings (CD)
  • Les scènes ardentes, op.72; author's scenic music 1990 - 2004; Ars Benevola mater
  • Nonterra, op.73; suite for integrated ensemble, 2005; Ars Benevola Mater
  • Contemplatio per nexus, op.77; extensive composition on the theme of "Teologia spiritualis mystica", 2008;
  • The Assent To Paradoxon, box set of 7 compact discs with revised versions of Sense Geometry, Concert industriel pour orgue, Symphony no. 2 and 3, Nonterra, Symphony no. 4, Les Scenes ardentes and Exorcisms released by Italian label Ars Benevola Mater.
  • Torment Of Naissance, op.79, suite for integrated ensemble, 2007
  • Tobruk, op.82, original soundtrack to the movie with the same name, 2008

[edit] References

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